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Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay Is getting everyone a laptop an option? With that you "decetralize" expense of batteries. I.e. replace laptop's battery only when it dies. Hopefully all of them would not die in the same month.
With virtualization, cheap laptops should work. And users can have keyboard + LCD to use when on power.
UPS can power other equipments like routers/WiFi. This should save on cost of UPS. |
This laptop idea is actually quite interesting. If done like the way car-leasing works, then it actually will boost performance and morale.
When you say with virtualization, you mean cheap laptops connected to a server which runs all the host applications? Until now, I ran virtualization only for back-office teams, but did not actually check this out for development teams.
Btw, we are a dot net shop. So we dont work on linux.
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Originally Posted by Aroy One of the first thing that comes to my mind is that few people realise that the Desk Top computer actually costs a company more than is apparent. Here are some hidden infrastructure costs not factored in
1. Cost of Power Backup
2. Cost of Air conditioning, to cater to the extra heat dissipated by PC
3. Cost of real estate to accommodate larger desks for PC
4. Cost of wiring (both power as well as LAN)
5. Cost of dedicated locations verses free seating and instant relocation
When you factor in all these costs, then you will realise that, barring a few cases - CAD/CAM, GIS and where ever high computing power and/or large displays are needed, a laptop works out to be much less expensive in a corporate environment, even if it costs more initially.
In fact five years ago I read that major US corporates (with 10K+ desktops) were phasing out desktops and replacing them with laptops.
Backup power is better utised for environment control (AC Lights etc), than for powering PC! So a generator which can run all your AC should be a higher priority. |
All your points are absolutely valid, and the fact that laptops also allow employees to work from home is nice
I do need to check on the high computing power bit for our developer requirements.
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Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay Given that his location is Bangalore, AC might not be top priority. |
Absolutely.
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Originally Posted by deep_bang Very true atleast in large organization. Atleast in my company, i dont see anyone poweroff their desktops while leaving for the day. Atmost the monitor is switched off by some powersave setting, but the CPU still consumes atleast 100W.
A laptop by contrast consumes only about 30W even at its peak.
However, a Laptop would definitely be much much costlier in the long run than the power savings one can accumulate. A laptop also would mean other issues such as data security (people taking all the data home), more abuse (people working in front of their TV's with their kids running about) etc.
This is completely off topic - but i hope Tech companies liek Bangalore move away from being a AC - only envirnoment to a more eco-friendly non-AC envirnoments. The single biggest power consumption today is from the AC's. |
We are in a brilliant nice house with two floors. Very good ventilation with a nice big terrace. We packed off both our air conditioners into sealed boxes.
OutSmart360 Alley – Blog to see pictures of the place. After coming off from a closed, glass facaded commercial office, this place is fantastic. I think we'll be looking nice and hard for a very well ventilated place as our next office.
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Originally Posted by Chipz Computers cannot work on generator alone.. they need a ups (else they will restart on power cut). So, you will have to connect the ups to the generator. Since your batteries have been working for 3 years, they are nearing their end, and eventually you will have to buy new batteries for the ups. |
Yes, that was my plan. Route the genset to the UPS. The main line runs through the UPS as well (its an online UPS).
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Originally Posted by Chipz Considering the cost of diesel and the day by day price rise, and that you will have to eventually buy battery (even if it is 40 ah), it is wise to buy 100 ah batteries now in place of generator. (IMP: check if you UPS can handle 100 ah batteries). |
I am veering towards this option after looking at the cost. I need something that can take me to 40 computers and give me a solid 5-6 hour back-up at the least.
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Originally Posted by Chipz How many systems are you using. |
Right now, we've got 24 people (14 PC's and 24 Monitors).
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Originally Posted by Chipz Laptop is not only considered as a big initial investment, have you considered their service and AMC. A single laptop AMC comes to around 3500, so it is a huge amount at last. If AMC is not opted.. everyone know how much the battery, motherboard, or display cost.
A desktop can be serviced at about 1k, and every component has minimum 5 years warranty. So, according to me unless portability is needed, desktop is best.
Take care... |
That is true. I had not considered the AMC. Since we have an IT admin in-house, we dont need an AMC with an external company.
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Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom I think that a laptop is a very bad deal for desk-bound work.
If I had my way, I'd put every application on a server and a Wyse 120 on every desk.
Except that is all done away with now, and it is all thin clients. Whilst I don't know this technology personally, I am sure it is the way to go.
However the management teams like to rebadge it, none of it is really new! The dumb terminal, of course, goes back to the middle-ages of computing, and a "thin" diskless client was to be found (being called a server) long, long ago. |
I will check on whether thin-client's make sense for our development teams. Our design teams which run adobe suites are not probably good examples for this.
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Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay A laptop + docking station that gives Keyboard + mouse + big LCD screen is as good as desktop for corporate use.
With obvious benefit that it would work without this LCD in case of powercuts. |
If we get laptops, then we stinge on the LCD screens!
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Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom That is a very good idea. I think my first-ever computer, an NCR Unix machine, had that option. |
How old are you man?! I dont think I even know what this looks like.
I think we'll do some more calculations, because my next question is going to be:
-> What capacity of batteries make the best sense for a 40 seater operation that needs a back up of upto 6 hours.